I'm late to the party since this game only just appeared in the stores.

I'm having a terrible time with the controls, and the game manual is silent on many of the things I'm having trouble with.

I've only just started the game. I'm in the place where I'm suppposed to pass a test. I can zoom the camera in and out, I can sort of move around, but what I can't do is LOOK around; I seem to be unable to do anything but blindly click on destinations. Moving my mouse, which is what allows you to look around in most games, does nothing. I know that the WASD keys work for moving, but if I don't know where I'm moving TO, I'll be dead very quickly.

Any hints on moving around in the game?

Hagatha, hold down the right mouse button to steer and use the W to move forward. You are going to like this game. I am near the end now, just a final battle.

Thanks. It's a bit difficult to stay alive when something is shooting at you from the right, but you can't turn.

So far it looks okay, although the game world will take some getting used to.

Edit -- okay, next problem. The in-game tutorial wants me to drag my armour to the quickbar, but I'm not sure what the quickbar IS. The obvious thing is the row of spaces at the bottom of the screen, and that what it looks like in the game manual, but that is obviously not it. If I drag the armour onto that, the game asks if I really want to destroy the armour. And I can't go on with the game until I figure this out. The tutorial is a bully. I don't think I like that much. Can it be disabled?

So far, finding the technical issues outweighing any real gameplay enjoyment.

Edit #2 -- Aha. Somehow I managed to get past that stuckness. And I'm past the test (which I would definitely play differently next time) and into the game itself. This interface takes some getting used to, doesn't it? But I've managed to figure some of it out. Very tricky, after playing two straight games of Divine Divinity, which is pretty straightforward.

hagatha, I too had problems with the interface and controls at first. I found the easiest way to move around is to use the WASD keys for simply moving as in old-fasioned shooters (that is, A and D does not strafe). Then as soon as you encounter enemies, simply use the mouse entirely. I still think that NWN2 had a much smoother way of controlling your party, but this isn't so bad either.

Regarding the armour...I have no idea why the tutorial would tell you to do that. Armours are only applicable on the character in the inventory screen. Dragging anything outside the "management" box will destroy the item. I think you can just ignore the tutorial, no?

Yes, tricky, but after a few hours you will get used to it, I think.

Thankyou Hagatha, it's gratifying you had trouble too as 10 minutes into the game I was ready to take a hammer and saw to it. and thinking if others enjoy DA why can't I? And thanks Pokey for the right click and W thing for directions. The dogs are nice.

Okay, now I have a more difficult issue. My game keeps reloading itself. Just -- reloads, in the middle of a fight, while I'm walking around -- seemingly whenever it feels like reloading, it just reloads. The Ctrl key is one such trigger, but there are obviously others, since this has happened over and over and over...usually just as I'm about to finish a hard battle.

I've looked at the keyboard bindings, but Ctrl is not associted with a Reload command, so I can't make it not be reload. As for the other keys -- whatever they are -- I have no idea what to do.

Anyone else have this problem and is there a way around it?


Edit - anyway, aside from that, this is lots of fun. I finally have a few party members and am racking up the levels. The dog is a nice touch.

I have never heard of such a problem...maybe the best thing would be to contact Bioware about it. Have you tried the game with a different keyboard?

Hagatha - check your controls screen to see what quickload is mapped as?

I struggled with intricacies of the inteface for a few days, in fact - especialy your spells and special moves.
Like with all games, it does become second nature after enough time spent with it.

In this post at the rpgwatch this post at the rpgwatch there is a link to a manual (in zip-format), you can download directly from the EA site.

You can, apparently, rotate the camera by clicking on the A and D keys. The Home and the End keys allow you to rotate up and down. Most games also allow you to your mouse. Have your tried scrolling (clicking) your mouse wheel, Hagatha?

As for the reload/quickload feature, I don't know what is happening. Have you tried searching or asking about this at Bioware's Social site for the game? Bioware's Social Site for the game I think you'll need to register to search or ask questions, though.

I've already checked out the key mapping for this game, and the quickload has nothing to do with the Ctrl key. Also, I've noticed that using the Space key can reload the game, which is horrible, because when that happens its always in the middle of a battle. It's not consistent, though. It just happens from time to time.

I've given up on the Dragon Age Social Site. I can't register on the site, can't login, can't register my game, can't download my free stuff, can't use the forums. I would ask the webmaster of that site for advice as to why I can't register and/or login, but of course you have to have an account to contact support. And I'm not the only one with this problem. Let's just say I'm not overly impressed that someone decided this game had to have its own site instead of just using the Bioware forums, and then followed up that poor decision with a registration and login system that doesn't work for everyone.

But the game is great. I like the party chit-chat. My doggy Maximilian is a good boy, and I loved the interaction between him and all the other characters when I was in camp. Very amusing.

So sorry to hear of all your problems, Hagatha.
I must say that I never had any problems, and I downloaded quite a bit of DLC. I used my Bioware account to log on to the Dragon Age forums, btw.

It seems that you can use either your Bioware account, or you can create a new EA account (if you didn't already have one) to enter into the forums.

This is really a silly question , I know - but have you tried playing with a different keyboard?

Sorry to hear about your troubles, Hagatha

Have you tried contacting EA support? EA is the publisher and they may be able to help you.

I don't know why you can't create an account, though. However, I do know that you'll need to have the exact same login name and password for your Bioware account, your EA account and your social site (bioware) account. It's a bit of hassle to do, but worth it, I find.

As for downloading the dlc, you'll need to login via the (very tiny) login at the very left hand bottom of the screen in your DA Laucnher. Make sure you have the da.updaterservice running - check the services the tab to see if this program is running. [To do this click start - run - then write msconfig - click ok - at least on XP that is].

Karsten, I am using the same username and password as I use on the Bioware forums. That is why this is so annoying. I have NOT heard back from Bioware support, though I emailed days ago. I cannot contact EA support without an account for Dragon Age. Nobody has offered a solution to the problem on the Bioware foums, though a few people have posted asking for help. I'm getting the feeling nobody cares.

Can someone tell me how to find and disable traps? I have Leilana in my party but she doesn't seem to do anything about traps.

Also, how do I get characters to go solo? I've tried all the little gold icons under the four character icons, but none of them seem to have the solo function.

Finally, why will my mage not Heal herself? Several times she's been in a position wher eshe could easily win a fight but she won.t cast Heal on herself. This only happens sometimes; other times she can heal herself. It's very odd, but I'm wondering if it's something I've setup that I'm missing somehow? Othereise it makes no sense.

It's my understanding that since Bioware is based in Canada that they're on vacation untill Jan 4th 2010. Sorry to hear that noone at Bioware seems to care, though? Have you PM'ed Chris Priestly, Fernando Melo or Rob Bartel about your problems?
They seem to be very helpfull.

From what I can gather, Bioware devs. reads the forums, including the DA ones, regularly. Your (and others problems) should have been noted; a solution howevever, might take some time, since Bioware needs to be able to replicate the problems.

As for the mage have you set your tactics slot correct? If less than 50 percent health - heal self - needs to be on the top, I think?

As for your problems logging in, maybe it it me that's abit slow here - but you do mean that you're using the same password and login name for all three accounts 1) the bioware forums and 2) the da social site and 3) the ea main account.

Sorry again, if this is what you've been doing, just wanted to clarify it

Anyway, regarding the traps: level one in traps does not always mean that your character will detect all traps - the traps seem to be at different levels, just as some locks are more difficult than others.

So you need to level up your skill to detect the more difficult ones.

However, if Leliana has spotted a trap, it will be sort of highlighted in a reddish colour. You then need to hover your mouse over the trap until it gives you the little 'disable' text message and then (with Leliana selected,) click on the message.

If you want one of your party members to venture forth and leave the rest behind, toggle the run/hand icon to have the hand on, which will make all your party members stand still.
Then select only the person you want to use, (via clicking on their portrait is easiest), and run along with only that character. The others will remain behind where you left them.

Toggling the hand icon to the little running figure, will make them run to catch up with you again.

For your mage to heal herself, you need only target her portrait with the healing spell, just like you would heal any other party member. Do you heal them by clicking on the actual person? Well, its much easier actually just clicking on the little character portrait.

It does sound as if you are playing mainly using tactics, though, and in that case, yes, you must set a minimum you want her health to go to before she heals herself, and you need to set it reasonably high on the list of tactics.

Keep in mind that each spell has a cool down period, so she might have been still in the cool-down period for that spell, or might have been just-just too low on mana to cast it, which I actually doubt – since the simple heal uses up very little mana, and has a quick cool-down cycle.

Karsten, yes, I'm using the same username and password for all accounts involved. I live in Canada and I assure you I worked this week! Hopefully someone will respond, but there is a long thread about this problem on the Bioware website forum dating back to November and as far as I can see nobody offical ever responded before the thread went stale.

Moondancer, thanks for the tips. I'll check my mage to see what tactics are set up. But as for the trap detection, Leilana just walks onto a trap same as everyone else. Is there a toggle for trap detection, or is it a passive skill? She's not detecting anything, even if I know she's standing right beside a trap.

I'm definitely not used to the combat in this game. I'm actually pinned down and can't go anywhere else at the moment because the random encounters on the roads are too hard, by a LOT, for any party combination I have. My current quest has me battling a dragon, which is way too hard. Shen seems particularly vulnerable. He's always the first to go down. Odd. He looks so tough. Maybe I should have left him in that cage after all. So far my doggie is the toughest of the lot. Cute little Alistair usually lasts for a while. The other two, Morgaina and Lailana, last for a few turns only, but always succumb once the battle gets close up. Usually my PC is the one left standing, and as she's a mage, she doesn't last long without support. I definitely need to win some of the encounters on the roads before I can move on. Not easy, though.

Edit -- on to the more social aspects of the game, I love the party interactions. I almost died laughing the first time I heard the cheeky, cheesy Yeeees? I get from Alistair when I select him for action, now that his approval rating is at 100. My PC is starting to wonder if perhaps there is something wrong with him, after all, and is considering throwing him over for the Elf. Some of the comments party members make upon reviving after dying in a battle are hilarious.


EDIT: By the way, I never did get any help from anyone at either Bioware or EA. I truly feel as though I am howling into the wind. So I guess I'll forfeit my free downloads and won't be able to get any of the new content. Too bad. I love the game, but this leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I've been a loyal customer all these years.